![]() Gadot proves that her strong performance in the first Wonder Woman was not a fluke. Most of the best aspects of Wonder Woman 1984 come down to my two favorite elements of the first Wonder Woman film: Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. But this is certainly not a sequel that goes beyond the original film, adding complexities and depth to the characters and the world (the way truly great sequels do). ![]() If the goal of this film was to tell an entertaining story that would allow you to spend more enjoyable time with Diana and Steve, two characters you liked from the first film, then Wonder Woman 1984 succeeds. Wonder Woman 1984 is nowhere near the greatness of most of the Marvel Studios films we’ve been lucky to have been enjoying for the past several years, though it’s far stronger than most of the DCU films from the past several years. But it’s uneven, and the unsuccessful Barbara Minerva aspect of the story - which I’ll discuss in more detail in a moment - serves as an anchor that keeps the movie from greatness. Wonder Woman 1984 is an entertaining sequel to 2017’s first Wonder Woman film. Also tied up in this story is Barbara Minerva, whose wish allows her to become the confident, powerful woman she’s always wanted to be and who does not want to allow Diana to undo anything the stone has done. ![]() Max wants to use the powers of the stone to grant himself the life of fame and fortune he’s always wanted, but the wish-granting powers of the stone, once unleashed, begin to wreak havoc upon the world. His resurrection appears to be tied to the powerful dream-stone which failed oil tycoon Max Lord uncovers. Joy returns to her world when Steve Trevor, her true love who sacrificed himself at the end of the first film, mysteriously returns to life. Diana is living a solitary, lonely life, helping people when she can while keeping her existence as a superhuman among mortals a secret. Rank: Honorable Mention (since I’d still probably watch it again.Wonder Woman 1984 picks up the story of Diana/Wonder Woman many decades after her first film (which was set in 1918). I’d wish for it, but now I know that can be risky.īest line: (Max Lord, repeatedly) “Life is good! But it can be better.” Gadot is still an ideal Wonder Woman, so I hope she can still get a worthy sequel at some point. It does have some silly-enough-to-be-entertaining appeal, though. I went into Wonder Woman 1984 wanting to like it and did enjoy seeing Steve reunited with Diana and introduced to the 1980s, but not even the same director and stars from the first film could save a plot this half-baked. The moral of the wish storyline especially falls flat, implying that everyone would only wish for evil things if given the chance (President Reagan is literally shown wishing he had more nukes as opposed to something like, I don’t know, world peace), and it’s bewildering how incoherent the finale is, with Barbara somehow getting a second wish and both Lord and Diana somehow speaking to everyone on Earth via a satellite. ![]() Both Lord’s monkey-paw-style mania and Barbara’s descent into villainy have good moments as well, with Pascal’s smarmy façade especially fitting his character to a T, yet their final confrontations with Wonder Woman are too chaotic with obvious CGI to be taken seriously. There are some decent action scenes, like during a truck chase in Egypt, while one set in a mall is laughably mediocre in tone and execution. There was a good movie somewhere in the pitch for Wonder Woman 1984, but it got lost in the overload of themes and complete lack of subtlety. Of course, Diana gets a wish of her own as well, which enables the return of her long-lost love Steve, albeit in a way that is problematic for long-term happiness. Pedro Pascal plays a desperate businessman Max Lord, who uses a wishing stone to gain the power to grant wishes himself, always with an unpleasant twist to them, while Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) is the recipient of one of those wishes, a clumsy geologist whose initial hero worship for Wonder Woman turns to resentment as she becomes the confident Cheetah. Set in 1984 (obviously), this second adventure sees Wonder Woman contending with less impressive threats than the Olympian god she took down in the first film. So there was good reason to think that Wonder Woman 1984 would be a similar success, which only makes its failings more disappointing. Gal Gadot was perfectly cast as the idealistic Diana, her chemistry with Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor provided sacrificial pathos by the end, and the World War I setting was a unique contrast to all the modern superhero settings. Like many others, I was quite impressed with 2017’s Wonder Woman and thought it signaled an overdue increase in entertainment value for DC’s superhero lineup. These are always tricky for me, but I opted for the shape of a prominent letter befitting this film.) (Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a concrete poem, one that is written in the shape of its topic. ![]()
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